The Fear-Affiliation Relationship: A Sociocultural Revisitation

• Published in: Journal of cross-cultural psychology 1980-06, Vol.11 (2), p.173-188
• Main Authors: Ramirez, Alexander C., Garza, Raymond T., Lipton, Jack P.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• ISSN: 0022-0221; 1552-5422
• DOI: 10.1177/0022022180112003

The relative saliency of social comparison and anxiety reduction as motives for affiliation under conditions of fear was examined within a cross-cultural context. Forty-eight Chicano and forty-eight Anglo adolescents, equally divided by sex, were randomly assigned to condition high or low fear. While the analyses based on manipulated fear failed to replicate the classic findings of Darley and Aronson (1966) supporting the social comparison explanation, an internal analysis, based on reported fear, provided evidence that this lack of replication was probably due to- lack of functional equivalence across sociocultural groups. Indeed, the sociocultural consideration proved to be a potent qualifier of the fear-affiliation relationship. There was considerable variation across sex and ethnicity in the relative importance of social comparison and anxiety reduction as motives for affiliation under conditions of fear. The results of the present study make clearly evident the importance of taking a sociocultural perspective in all social psychological research.